Hoping for MacAir to be continued

I can't say enough about the versatility and excellence of the MacAir. I've bought three (for self and others) and they've all surpassed our expectations. I had a MBP before and it was way more than I needed - not only in capability, but in size and convenience. The semi-new MacBook is nice but the lack of USB and other ports is disappointing. Apple has a perfect product in the MBA - and I sincerely hope it is renewed in 2016, and not shelved, as suggested.

And how often do most people use those....?
Just saying, I bet the majority of people just don't need them in the same way parallel ports, SVGA ports, firewire, floppy drives and infra red all were replaced.

The new generation of hardware will be based on usb-c, time to move forward.
I recall the same comments around moving to lightning connector for the iPhone.

If the MBA got a retina screen I would likely pick it over the MB, but solely for the battery life. I dont mind the single USB port as i practically never use peripherials on laptops, apart from a projector now and then.

I for one will not buy it with a single usb-c port. I haven't used a USB hub in years, and I am not about to start again now. To me that is going backwards. Ditto for losing magsafe. Heck I could even handle a single usb-c port as long as it had magsafe as well.

Apple has a perfect product in the MBA - and I sincerely hope it is renewed in 2016, and not shelved, as suggested.

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I suspect that, when Apple get round to releasing the new range, the 13" MacBook Air and the 13" retina MacBook Pro will merge into one, and whether its the "Air" or the "rMBP 13" that has been discontinued will simply be a matter of which name Apple choose.

Even now, its a hard choice between the 13" Air and the 13" rMBP (people are asking here all the time) and, maybe once you get beyond the entry-model Air, the rMBP offers more bang-per-buck. While the rMBP isn't quite as sleek as the Air, its still pretty small and light - a lot of the difference is the visual effect of the taper.

With the lower power Skylake CPUs, smaller combined Thunderbolt/USB-C ports that do everything and the new 'tapered' battery design used in the 12" macBook then - unless Jony Ive has been replaced by an alien pod person - the 13: rMBP is only going to get thinner (and probably tapered).

However, I strongly fear that it will come with just 2 USB-C/TB3 ports and nothing else, because, like it or not, that's kinda the point of USB-C on small-form-factor devices.

I suspect that, when Apple get round to releasing the new range, the 13" MacBook Air and the 13" retina MacBook Pro will merge into one, and whether its the "Air" or the "rMBP 13" that has been discontinued will simply be a matter of which name Apple choose.

Even now, its a hard choice between the 13" Air and the 13" rMBP (people are asking here all the time) and, maybe once you get beyond the entry-model Air, the rMBP offers more bang-per-buck. While the rMBP isn't quite as sleek as the Air, its still pretty small and light - a lot of the difference is the visual effect of the taper.

With the lower power Skylake CPUs, smaller combined Thunderbolt/USB-C ports that do everything and the new 'tapered' battery design used in the 12" macBook then - unless Jony Ive has been replaced by an alien pod person - the 13: rMBP is only going to get thinner (and probably tapered).

However, I strongly fear that it will come with just 2 USB-C/TB3 ports and nothing else, because, like it or not, that's kinda the point of USB-C on small-form-factor devices.

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My thoughts exactly about the 13" merger. Back to three models MacBook; two normal ones and one larger Pro.

An unchanged Air with Skylake at a sub 1000 dollar price point would be great, but only for its lower price. Maybe it'll die out in the worst way possible like the 13" MBP from 2012.

Yeah, the MacBook Air has evolved into an excellent portable machine, but the new MacBook was the next evolutionary jump. Current MBAs will be serviceable for years, though, I'm sure – Apple's only gotten better about that.

And how often do most people use those....?
Just saying, I bet the majority of people just don't need them in the same way parallel ports, SVGA ports, firewire, floppy drives and infra red all were replaced.

The new generation of hardware will be based on usb-c, time to move forward.
I recall the same comments around moving to lightning connector for the iPhone.

The new generation of hardware will be based on usb-c, time to move forward.
I recall the same comments around moving to lightning connector for the iPhone.

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SD Card - a very nice and cheap way of expanding your storage.
standard USB - 99% of people use it almost every day.
thunderbolt/magsafe - this can be replaced with 2 universal USB-C ports that support charging.

So yeah, leave SD slot and at least 1 standard USB port, replace thunderbolt and magsafe with 2 USB-C ports and people will be happy.

I use USB for my backup drive, SD for extra space, MagSafe for, er, obvious reasons (saved the Air from falling twice so far) and I might start using Thunderbolt because I would like to connect the Air to TV via HDMI.

But why bother when you can just connect remotely? it's redundant, it's faster, it has more scale.
In the same way you can just send a text msg rather than write a letter... quicker, scaleable and far easier.

Oh and people are already selling USB-C thumb drives so, nothing would change if you "still" wanted to..

But why bother when you can just connect remotely? it's redundant, it's faster, it has more scale.
In the same way you can just send a text msg rather than write a letter... quicker, scaleable and far easier.

Oh and people are already selling USB-C thumb drives so, nothing would change if you "still" wanted to..

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What remotely?
Laptop is meant to be portable, not stationary.
So unless you want to get rid of the ports just for the sake of carrying around a bunch of otherwise useless equipment with you, I don't see what are you trying to say.

It's called wifi!!!! you just don't need the ports, "the device is meant to be portable"
Wifi, to NAS, wifi to ATV, wifi from camera...

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WIfi to usb flash drive? No.

Wifi to a hub that has standard USB port? Maybe. Except we need to ask ourselves what's the point of eliminating such a simple and relatively small port if you gonna need to have with you all this extra stuff because of it. And you will be lucky to get a 100Mbps over Wifi without anything super fancy. Don't except that hub to cost $15 either. And gosh, what about the "convenience" of constantly charging such a stupid hub.

The goal might be to make it more portable, but the end result becomes exact opposite of that.

Reminds me of those very old netbooks that had those external heavy batteries which were obligatory if you wanted somewhat decent battery life.

Might as well remove the keyboard, trackpad and headphone port and merge it with iPad cause you have the ****ing bluetooth... Wireless future. My ass.

I'd never tell someone "you're holding it wrong" when it comes to purchases. I might roll my eyes here at home, especially when people boast about their new Scheissung phones but it's their money. And I don't feel "hatred" towards any product, except for Apple Music possibly, and I don't need anything to be "trashed" to... well... to I don't know what. If you don't like it, don't buy it.

I can't say enough about the versatility and excellence of the MacAir. I've bought three (for self and others) and they've all surpassed our expectations. I had a MBP before and it was way more than I needed - not only in capability, but in size and convenience. The semi-new MacBook is nice but the lack of USB and other ports is disappointing. Apple has a perfect product in the MBA - and I sincerely hope it is renewed in 2016, and not shelved, as suggested.

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Despite what these Retina-lovers say, the MBA is quite possibly still the most popular Mac in Apple's line-up. It's the most affordable, and works like a charm. Apple's laptop sales increased significantly after 2010 when it made its debut (not counting the '08 model) and yes, while the MBPr and MB both sport the Retina screen, not everyone prefers to shell out 1300-1600 bucks on a new laptop. (nor do a lot of people care about a Retina screen)

Case in point would be the 4" iPhone making its return to the Apple line-up this spring (supposedly).. and there would be two reasons for that - size of the screen and affordability due to customer demand. Think of it this way - the last two years, Apple has ceased to even introduce significant changes in the MBA line-up at any of their conferences, they merely just came out and upgraded minor things like the processor and put it on the Apple Store. To me, that clearly indicates the popularity of this machine. Why fix or change something that doesn't need to be? Sure, maybe a port or two here and there, but I'm willing to bet the MacBook Air sticks around longer than you'd expect. People have been harping about this same issue for the last few years, and guess what - its still here.

I really don't get why anyone would want it put to bed, anyways.. if you don't like the MBA, don't buy it. Simple as that. Let us lower maintenance, budget conscious users enjoy it... "while we can".

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